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KillSwitch
From 2013.igem.org
Kill Switch
The kill switch design is based on the expression of holin and antiholin, Figure 1. Holin is a protein that forms pores in cell membranes. Anti-holin binds to holin and inhibits it's action. Once pores are formed by holin, lysozyme can access the periplasmic space and degrade the cell wall, causing cell lysis.
Kill switch constitutes a crucial part of our final system. It is activated after the production and release of the antimicrobial peptide. In that way, the E.colis are killed and the safety of the system is ensured.
Figure 1: Circuit of the kill switch
Differential Equations
The kill switch circuit can be represented by the following differential equations.
Parameters
The used parameters are listed in Table 1. The dimer binding strengths are fitted on literature of Holin expression using the PcI promoter with and without antiholin [14].
| Parameter | Value | Description | Units | Reference |
| a | 1020 | Translation rate per amino acid | min-1#a-1 | [7] |
| cpconst | 0.85 | Transcription rate of Pconst | #m/min | Assumption |
| cptet | 2.79 | Maximum transcription rate of Ptet | #m/min | [15] |
| dH | 0.0348 | Degradation rate of holin | M/min | [17] |
| dH | 0.0348 | Degradation rate of Antiholin | M/min | [17] |
| dmRNA | 0.231 | Degradation rate of mRNA | min-1 | [8] |
| kAtc,in | 0.9 | Assumption [11] | ||
| kAtc,out | 0.05 | Assumption [11] | ||
| kb,HAH | 0.3*10-4 | Backward rate | [17] | |
| kf,HAH | 1.2*10-4 | Forward rate | [17] | |
| lptet | 0.002 | Leakage factor of Ptet | - | Assumption |
| ntet | 3 | Hills coefficient | - | [11] |
| sH | 219 | Length of Holin | amino acids | |
| sAH | 103 | Length of Antiholin | amino acids |
Results
The model is simulated upon activating. The lethal dosis of Holin is a 1000 molecules [17], which is shown in the graph as the horizontal line.
Figure 2: Simulation Results
Discussion
As observed the dimer is formed, reducing the amount of antiholin. After 55 min the Holin level passes the 1000 molecules, so cell lysis would occur within an hour.
